Fate Zero: Rearranged
by LordEndarius
Summary: Fate/Zero with different servants. Current chapter: Solaire's Bonfire has unintended consequences for the magus next door.
1. Brolaire

**Hello hello! Welcome to... well, it's not really a fanfiction. Not yet, anyway. Mostly what this is is a loosely connected series of alternate servants being summoned in the Fourth Holy Grail War. At some point in the future I may get to writing an actual fanfiction based on these characters. Don't expect frequent updates, the Muse seems to avoid my neighborhood. Mostly I'm putting these up in the hope that they'll stop bouncing around in my head and maybe a review or two will inspire me more. That said, if you feel you can use these characters as-is, feel free. Just let me know so I can check it out.**

* * *

" **Yet you shall serve with your eyes clouded by chaos.**

 **For you would be one caged in madness.**

 **I shall wield your chains**

 **From the Seventh Heaven, attended to by three great words of power,**

 **come forth from the ring of restraint, protector of the holy balance!** "

Zouken chuckled to himself as Kariya finished his incantation. The fool could never hope to supply enough mana to support a berserker, let alone control it. Perhaps Kariya would have known if he'd had a more traditional magus training, but worms make terrible lecturers. His thoughts were interrupted by a flash of golden light from the summoning circle.

The figure in the middle appeared to be a golden phantom, slowly straightening and raising its arms above its head, palms downward. Eventually, the golden glow faded, leaving a man in plate mail, with a bucket- shaped helmet on his head, and a tabard over his chestplate with a large sun in the middle

"What ho! There never seems to be a shortage of lightless dungeons, is there?" The figure glanced around a moment before redirecting his gaze at Kariya, "I am Servant Berserker, have you summoned me for some jolly cooperation?" It seemed excited at the prospect.

Zouken stared open-mouthed at the figure. This "berserker" somehow managed to speak! Coherently, even!

Kariya had practised for this moment for quite some time. Assuming his brain was elsewhere, his mouth scrambled for lost time, "Yes, I have summoned you, Berserker."

"Magnificent! I am Solaire of Astora, may I have your name, master?"

Unfortunately, Kariya's brain managed to catch up at this point. His mouth was totally unprepared to keep him from saying something stupid, like, "You can talk?"

"Er… Yes? Is that a problem?" Solaire seemed taken aback.

Zouken laughed out loud. "Well then! It seems that you can't even summon a Berserker properly! They were specifically designed to be easy to summon, but you managed to fail at even the lowest bar. Truly, you were worth the effort."

Kariya glared at his Grandfather, "I can see his status, Grandfather. He has the Mad Enhancement, but it is sealed at the moment. Allow me to see what else… What are you doing?"

Solaire looked up from the pile of ash he had summoned. "I'm making sure I can operate at my full potential, master." That said, he pulled a frankly ridiculously long sword out of seemingly nowhere, inserted it into the floor (through stone! Without making a sound!), and held his hand out toward the hilt. He seemed to concentrate for a bit, and a small, ethereal flame sprung up from the ashes around the sword.

Kariya went weak in the knees for a moment, feeling the prana drain from his servant's actions. He stumbled, began to fall, and was caught by gauntleted, but gentle hands.

"Careful there, master. Come sit by the Bonfire, you'll feel much better."

Kariya felt himself get picked up by a single arm and carried like a child to be set down by the fire. As he grew closer to the smouldering wisps, he felt the Crest Worms inside his body become agitated, but the pain subsided as he was set down and heat seemed to soak into his bones. He felt better than he had in… years. Certainly since he started training.

"Much better, master. Nothing like a warm fire to bring comfort to the dead and dying, eh?" He felt something settle to the ground next to him. "Now then. Perhaps we can talk here without interruptions." Kariya looked up and noticed he could not see very far beyond the light of the bonfire: some sort of yellowish mist filled the air around them.

"Don't worry master, we have all the time in the world. Now then, while I am a big fan of working together with people, I much prefer knowing who I work with and their goals. Might I have your name?"

"Kariya. Kariya Matou. I'm sorry, but isn't Territory Creation part of the Caster class?"

Solaire chuckled and gazed into the bonfire. "Normally, yes, and I doubt I have stolen that ability from him. However, all undead have a home, and that home is the Bonfire."

"How does that-wait, you're undead?"

Solaire sighed and removed his helmet. Kariya gasped in revulsion, and immediately regretted it. Solaire had long blonde hair flowing down past his shoulders, but it was sparse and came from a head that looked like beef jerky. His eyes were black with small, yellow pinpricks, and his nose was gone. Worst of all, there seemed to be a small hole of pitch blackness in the side of Solaire's neck, with an occasional tiny tongue of what appeared to be the same flame as the bonfire curling out and up Solaire's neck.

"We'll get this out of the way quickly, then. Yes, I am undead, but while that has done my knightly looks no favours, I assure you it will prove to be our biggest advantage." He replaced his helmet. "I feel no shame, for this path was my choice. I merely wear this to spare others who would react as you have."

Kariya looked into the bonfire in embarrassment. "I'm sorry, Solaire. It's not that bad, just... unexpected. You look nothing like the Dead Apostles." Kariya scoffed. "Besides, it's not like I reacted any better seeing myself in the mirror."

A hand clapped his shoulder. "Bear your scars with pride, Kariya. I interact with people frequently, so I can tell what drives them, and I feel that you have taken on this task for someone else's benefit. Although, I lack specific details. Who would you risk such suffering and death for? Family? A lover?"

Kariya glared sharply at his servant, then sighed. "Something in between, I guess. I take on this pain hoping to spare a young girl from suffering the same." He threw a hate-filled look at where Zouken was last seen standing. "Hopefully, my grandfather will honor his part of the agreement."

Although his face was hidden, Kariya could feel Solaire smile under his helmet. "I assume it has to do with retrieving the Grail, then? Fear not, Kariya."

The smiling feeling from Solaire took on a hint of steel.

"Death only slows me down."

* * *

 **Solaire's Stats:**

 **BERSERKER: SOLAIRE OF ASTORA**

 **Stats:**

 **Strength: A**

 **Agility: D**

 **Endurance: B**

 **Magic: C**

 **Luck: D**

 **Noble Phantasm: B**

 **Class abilities:**

 **Mad Enhancement E (sealed): This grants small increases to physical stats and takes away long term planning. This stat is sealed: servants are summoned at their strongest, and Solaire was stronger before he lost his mind.**

 **Personal Abilities:**

 **Jolly Cooperation!: Servant can convince others to team up easily, but cannot betray those he has teamed with unless Mad Enhancement is at rank B.**

 **Mental pollution C: Solaire seeks his own sun, and to become grossly incandescent. This ability denotes a disconnect with reality, which is perhaps inevitable with a being from another world where reality folds on itself regularly.**

 **Territory Creation C: Solaire is undead, and undead have a home: their bonfire. Solaire can create a bonfire to mark his "home" and revive there after a short time if killed. This ability can only be used in conjunction with Darksign.**

 **Darksign EX: Solaire is undead, which means upon death he revives at his bonfire, if it exists. However, each time he does so, he hollows, gaining a rank in Mad Enhancement and unsealing the ability. When Mad Enhancement reaches A rank, this ability ceases to function**

 **NOBLE PHANTASMS:**

 **Sunlight Talisman C (anti personnel): This talisman allows Solaire to cast the miracles of the sun, including Wrath of the Gods, Heal, and Sunlight Spear. Note that this Noble Phantasm can be used even in a berserk rage. This talisman uses stores prana which is refilled at the bonfire.**

 **Sunlight Maggot A: This "hat" provides light in a small area around Solaire, and also sets his Mad Enhancement and Mental Pollution to A rank while negating a significant part of the prana upkeep. This is also the only way to negate Jolly Cooperation.**

 **Notes:**

 **Solaire is freakishly strong, if slow. While Mad Enhancement will make him faster, stronger and tougher in exchange for his sanity, this does not inhibit his ability to cast spells, it makes his tactics erratic.**

 **WISH: FOR THE FIRE TO BURN ETERNAL, SO THAT THE AGE OF DARK NEVER COMES, EVEN IF I MUST MUST BE THE FUEL**

 **Tada! Hello Solaire, welcome to the most useless master in the war! How will Solaire being able to survive mostly on his own affect Kariya? How will a friendly Berserker change Servant interractions?**


	2. Frost

**Welcome to chapter two! In which, we discover that Kariya's summoning causes slightly longer-reaching consequences than expected! If I get around to making an actual fanfiction out of these, this chapter will likely be merged with the previous one for the sake of having decent length chapters.**

* * *

Magic is a fluid thing, flowing through circuits, mystic codes, humming within gems, and tumbling from fingertips into helpless targets with distressing ease. While magic can be formed by will, there is no true thing as a magic "spell", a set of words that will produce the same result for everyone who uses it in the same way, because each mage is unique in how magic flows through them. The closest thing to a "spell" is a ritual, one that usually takes place at a convergence of ley lines suited for the ritual's purpose. One of the few things magic could be relied upon to do was change when used.

Thus, it should come as no surprise that Solaire's Bonfire, a creation designed to tap directly into ley lines and draw their power forth for the purpose of healing and rejuvenation, caused a slight shift in the ley lines around Matou manor. Under normal circumstances, this would be of little consequence, but Fate loves nothing more than giving its own gears a good kick just to spice things up a little.

The short term effect of a shift in ley lines tended to be a bigger deal than the long term effects, as ley lines tended to shift back into their proper place. However, at the nearby Tohsaka mansion, where another servant was about to be summoned, the shift proved to be problematic.

" **From the Seventh Heaven, attended to by three great words of power,**

 **come forth from the ring of restraint, *BOING* protector of the holy balance**!"

Tokiomi Tohsaka, head of the Tohsaka family, had invested a tremendous amount of effort to gather his artifact: the skin of the first snake. This virtually guaranteed him to summon Gilgamesh, King of Heroes, and would ensure his victory in the coming conflict. In a world where older spirits had more power, the oldest spirit had the most power.

Tokiomi's eyes widened in panic as he felt the ley lines shift in the middle of his last verse, causing what he could only describe as the magical equivalent of "boing!" The mansion shuddered around him, and smoke came up from within the circle, obscuring his view of a figure that appeared inside. Coughing and spluttering, Tokiomi regained his composure and observed the… creature…

It was certainly humanoid, that was easy enough to determine. Giant shinguards extended a good eight inches above the knee seemed to be heavy and pointy enough that a good knee to the stomach would seriously menace someone's spine. It definitely wore a cloak of some sort, one which gave the impression of being a mixture between a double-breasted suit jacket and a duster. That was almost certainly a cravat in the middle of its chest, and its helmet seemed to slope downwards towards what could only be a face before coming up to a sharp point as a horn. The thing in the circle was mostly white with blue accents, and wielded a… gun? What kind of…?

Tokiomi's thought were interrupted by the sound of static in his head, followed by a voice. "...*schchk* operator?" The thing tilted its head in askance, then raised its right hand, showing the back. Tokiomi mirrored the gesture, showing his command seals. The figure nodded and holstered the gun on its back, which seemed to disappear in a blue mist, then gestured to itself.

"Frost. Archer. Contract complete. Your orders, operator?"

Tokiomi shook his head to clear it, then spoke. "I'm sorry, who are you again?"

"Warframe Frost, designation 10-0, 6.0, 1.29.13, Archer Class. What is our objective, operator?"

Tokiomi blinked twice before answering. "Er… you're not exactly who I was expecting…"

Frost shrugged. "Always left dimensional tampering to Limbo. Still can't make sense of his math. Still, can probably come back COVERED IN BLOOD-" Frost seemed to twitch, "successful. Do we have a plan, sir?"

"Well, yes, but it may require some tweaking-"

"Mind if I sit in on the planning, sir?"

"Of course, but-"

"Incidentally, what is Assassin doing here, sir?"

This brought Tokiomi up short. "Assassin is here?"

The shadows behind Tokiomi peeled back slightly to reveal a bone-white mask in the darkness, attached to a dark, bowing figure. "Impressive, Master Tohsaka. You have summoned a servant capable of detecting me at close range. Also, I sense it has some Presence Concealment of its own. Perhaps it can work with us better than expected."

Tokiomi flinched at the appearance of Assassin, and gave up. He reached over to his glass of wine on the table, drained the glass in one pull, and refilled it to much more full than is typically polite for a wine serving. "My apologies, gentlemen, it seems I have a bit of a headache. I need a moment in my study to consider this turn of events. Feel free to explore the house." And with that, he carried the glass and rapidly emptying bottle up the stairs.

Frost and Assassin watched the tactically withdrawing figure escape up the stairs. They made eye contact. There was a pause. Frost held its left hand palm up, displaying a small holographic display, on which words began to appear.

'ALLIANCE?'

Assassin read the words and nodded. "My master has allied with your master. Mine seems to have no desire for the Grail, and is the son of the overseer, with whom the Tohsaka family has had an alliance for quite some time."

Frost seemed to pause in thought. 'NO WISH?!'

Assassin nodded again. "I feel he is hiding something, or is unaware of his wish himself. Perhaps you will understand as you spend time with him. Or perhaps he will gain one as we proceed through the war."

Frost nodded. More than most, the Tenno understood having no purpose other than what was given to them until they found their own passions. 'BRIEFING?'

Assassin nodded a third time and began to explain the plan as is. He normally didn't talk much, but seeing as Archer would be an ally for the duration of the war, he was inclined to share information. Additionally, he could respect Frost's directly-to-business attitude and felt some kinship in his Presence Concealment. Maybe the Old Man of the Mountain could finally have a peer.

* * *

LATER, IN TOKIOMI'S STUDY:

Tokiomi Tohsaka uncorked another bottle of wine. He had sent out word for Kirei and the Servants to join him in the study. _Come to me, my child,_ he thought, _daddy needs his medicine._ There was a knock on the door, and he bid the knocker to come in. The person doing the knocking, not the brass ring on the door.

The door opened to reveal his understudy, Kirei Kotomine, and his Servant, Frost. Kirei hurried in and poured himself a large glass of wine. "You summoned us, master?"

Tokiomi blinked, somewhat taken aback by Kirei's lack of deference. "Indeed, Kirei. I have had time to adjust, and we can now discuss our plans for the war." He shifted his attention to the bright white figure, and began examining his status and abilities. "Hm… Rather unimpressive, really. Low stats, and your abilities-"

Frost whipped out a hologram again. 'READ "THE FOUNDRY" AGAIN.'

Tokiomi paused at the interruption, and did as requested. "Oh! C++ Noble Phantasm Constructs? I've never heard of two plusses before."

'HIGHLY SPECIFIC CIRCUMSTANCES, CAN OVERCOME ANYTHING BELOW A+ DEFENSES.'

Tokiomi's eyebrows reached his hairline. Rank A defenses were nigh impossible to find, A+ probably only existed on a handful of servants. Given proper preparation, Frost could take out almost anyone. Tokiomi cleared his throat, and began discussing his plans.

"Now then, our original plan can still stand if-yes, Archer?"

'ORIGINAL PLAN IS TO KILL ONE OF ASSASSIN'S BODIES IN FULL VIEW OF OTHER MASTERS, YES?'

"Oh good, they told you the-"

'MASTERS INCLUDING THE MATOU AND EINZBERN, YES?'

"Well of course, but-"

'MASTERS OF THE FOUNDING FAMILIES, WHO KNOW THE WORKINGS OF THE GRAIL INTIMATELY, UP TO AND INCLUDING THE FACT THAT THERE IS ONLY ONE ASSASSIN WHO CAN BE SUMMONED, AND THAT HIS "ABILITY" IS HAVING MULTIPLE BODIES, MEANING THAT AT LEAST TWO OF THE MASTERS WILL KNOW THAT ASSASSIN STILL EXISTS AND WILL LEARN THAT I USE GUNS?'

"Y-" Tokiomi paused. _Of course_ the two founding masters would know, how had he forgotten? He took another long pull from his wine glass. Kirei grimaced and followed suit. Assassin chuckled

"It seems our newest ally has a habit of getting on his master's nerves" he said.

'IF I MAY MAKE TWO SUGGESTIONS' continued the ruiner of plans, 'FIRSTLY, THE PURPOSE OF THE PLAN IS TO MAKE THE OTHER MASTERS BELIEVE YOU TWO ARE NOT ALLIES, CORRECT? I NEED NOT KILL HIM, ONLY CHASE HIM OFF. ALSO, GIVE ME UNTIL TOMORROW NIGHT AND I WILL HAVE BOWS READY. NO NEED FOR OTHERS TO KNOW I USE GUNS"

Tokiomi considered his Servant's words. Very rarely did a plan get torn down and rebuilt by the same person so quickly. He nodded and asked, "What items can you make, and what do you already have?"

The hologram in front of Frost changed to a long, _long_ list of nonsense words, all attached to a picture of a weapon, and a list of numbers that made even less sense. Tokiomi hurriedly added, "I think I will trust you with the details, Archer. Go ahead with the bows, and let me know what other weapons might be useful in the circumstances we encounter. Kirei, please debrief Archer on the other masters and their servants. Perhaps he will come up with yet more weapons of use. In the meantime, I need to contact Father Rissei."

Frost nodded and held the door for the other two. He made eye contact with Tokiomi before leaving, holding up his hologram again. 'DISCUSS CAPABILITIES LATER?'

Tokiomi nodded in a daze only slightly related to the imbibed alcohol. Frost exited the room. Tokiomi drained his glass. This was going to be a long conversation.

* * *

 **ARCHER: WARFRAME FROST**

 **Stats:**

 **Strength: C**

 **Agility: B**

 **Endurance: C+**

 **Mana: B**

 **Luck: C**

 **Noble Phantasm: A**

 **Class skills**

 **Independent Action C: Frost is capable of some action without a master, but is severely inhibited. Frost is capable of acting on his own indefinitely, but all stats are reduced to D rank until another contract is established. This modified skill allows Frost to manifest without draining mana from his master, as long as he isn't required to do anything particularly strenuous.**

 **Presence Concealment C: The Tenno are elite but few, thus their M.O. is in stealth. At this rank, Frost lacks supernatural means of concealment, but will not be detected without an intentional search or a direct line of sight established.**

 **Clairvoyance D: Frost can see easily up to a range of one kilometer, but is known for engaging enemies at a much closer range.**

 **Personal Abilities:**

 **Somatic Link C: Frost's master can view Frost and the area around him freely.**

 **Territory Creation A: see The Foundry**

 **Item Creation A: see The Foundry**

 **NOBLE PHANTASMS:**

 **The Foundry A: the phantasm through which Frost channels his Item Creation and Territory Creation, this item can create C++ rank noble phantasm constructs, usually within 12-24 hours.**

 **Synthesis Scanner C: Frost can take scans of enemies and learn about them and their weaknesses, but it relies on the enemy staying still for an extended period of time. Also requires multiple scans on a single enemy to truly learn their weaknesses. This can also detect enemies through obstructions within a short distance, but scans require a clear line of sight.**

 **Notes: Frost is unusually tanky for an archer, and unusually non-agile when compared to others of his class. He's more of a shock trooper and point-defense caster, if anything. He's the kind of archer that can walk in the front door, kill the target with an explosion and a few bullets to the head, sit by a computer calmly picking off enemies as his friend hacks the system remotely, and walk off relatively unobstructed. Frost always has his Snow Globe and Avalanche skills, but most of his combat effectiveness comes from prepared equipment: The Foundry**

 **WISH: UNDECIDED. FROST IS USED TO TAKING ORDERS, AND CANNOT WISH FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF THE CORPUS, GRINEER, OR SENTIENTS BY THEMSELVES, NOR CAN HE WISH FOR MORE TENNO TO WAKE, AS THE FACTIONS WOULD FOCUS ON THE TENNO UNTIL THEY WERE EXTINCT. FROST ACKNOWLEDGES THAT HE DOES NOT HAVE THE ANSWER TO HIS GALAXIES' PROBLEMS, BUT PERHAPS THE GRAIL CAN GIVE HIM ONE?**

 **If anything, Frost would be the closest thing to a self-insert in the story, mostly because Warframes aren't personalized much in cannon. Which has already been seen in this chapter, seeing as he tore apart Tokiomi's plan with Assassin. Dammit Frost, stop being an asshole!**


	3. Kessler

**Welcome to chapter 3! Who the hell has three chapters of intro!**

 **In a slight break, I'd like to take time to answer my three reviews. Thanks, guys!**

 **ex555: Thank you! Although I'd prefer some constructive criticism! Which chapter, and why did you like it?**

 **REDthunderBOAR: Originally I was going to have Solaire and Frost be the only newbies and change Caster to Gilgamesh, but I went with THIS GUY instead. As far as Dhovakiin being Saber... I'd argue that's their worst class. The Dhovakiin would make a great Ruler, a damn good Assassin, a better Caster (item creation FTW), and even a decent Archer before I'd throw them in as 'just' a Saber.**

 **NS120121: Yes, I have. I'm staying up to date on the big story quests. You as excited for Venus open world as I am?**

 **If it ever gets to the point I have a boatload of reviews to sort through (haha) I may have to skip some or just put them at the bottom of the chapter. Until then, meet Caster!**

* * *

 **Living room of some Ritual "Volunteers"**

"Fill, fill, fill, fill… fill? Yeah, that's five."

Blood dripped from the man's toe as he counted on his fingers. Why he couldn't count to five in his head is a mystery we will never solve. Perhaps Mental Pollution replaces math skills.

Neither of these thoughts comforted the child tied up in the corner. He struggled to escape the bonds laid upon him by the monster who killed his parents. This child failed to realize some important facts, however. One, that escaping ropes requires either tensing while being tied up (hard to do while unconscious) or focusing on the loser parts to wriggle free properly (hard to do while maintaining eye contact with your parent's impaled, severed heads). Two, this was a hostage situation, and maintaining calm in a hostage situation is just common sense. Three, while the man may have been slightly distracted, he would have been capable of hearing the child rip off his gag and start screaming. All of these plans meant that attempting to escape was a bad idea.

We'll forgive his ignorance. He is young.

He also hasn't been paying attention to the lunatic raving in his face.

Ryuunosuke is less forgiving than we are.

"So kid… if a demon really does show up… do you mind if we let it kill you?"

The child screamed, the psychopath laughed, until suddenly he got cut off by a searing pain in his right hand. A glowing from the bloody runic circle in the middle of the room distracted both of them, but not nearly as much as the man who appeared there.

The man kneeling in the circle seemed to be wearing a light tan jedi robe with short sleeves. The hood over his eyes barely concealed his grizzled, scared face. His equipment was even stranger. He wore a breastplate with six glowing lights, three on each side. Holstered on his left hip was what appeared to be a giant tuning fork made of metal pipes. His right arm, on the other hand, was entirely metal. Not new age metal either: this was clearly something cobbled together in an emergency, and then improved upon over the years. The figure spoke in a voice that had gargled sand for a few years.

"I have been summoned as Caster. Are you my mas-"

The figure lifted his hands and saw the blood from the circle sticking to his fingertips. He clenched his fists and looked up at the monster who summoned him. His eyes seemed to pierce through Ryuunosuke's skull.

"Oh _hell_ no."

He jumped up and grabbed the psycho's skull, electricity ravaging his nervous system, implanting images of destruction, chaos, and death. When he finally let go, his master dropped to the floor in a twitching heap.

"That was… so… cool…" Ryuunosuke choked out.

"And you are so pathetic. Disgusting whelp, I remember killing punks like you before I could have breakfast. In fact…"

The giant tuning fork was whipped out and swung with such speed it didn't matter that it was rounded. Ryuunosuke's right arm was severed below the elbow. His screams would have woken everyone in the house if they weren't already dead or cowering in the corner at the scene.

"The Grail is far too forgiving if it allows people like YOU to try for wishes." Caster ground out, hatred making the gravel in his voice all the more apparent.

Ryuunosuke reached over himself and touched the blood pooling by his right side. "What is… this… lovely…"

"Now, forgive me if this isn't as fast as I used to make it. Haven't used this ability in awhile." Caster's metal arm reached towards Ryuunosuke's head. "And please, try not to give me indigestion on your way out."

Ryuunosuke's back arched off the ground completely, suspended by his head and feet. Arcs of blinding, _searing_ white light connected master and Servant for a few moments. Then Ryuunosuke dropped to the ground, with a dead eyed, glassy grin on his face.

"Scum." Caster spat on the corpse, sheathing his tuning fork. Then he looked up at the child cowering in the corner. "Oh…"

The child tried to scream through his gag, but couldn't match the volume of the man whose arm had been removed moments ago.

"Look, kid, I uh... Oh hell, I'm no good at this." Caster reached down, picked up the child with his robotic hand, and flicked the kid on the forehead. "Stop that!"

Stunned silence met his annoyed gaze.

"Now then, I'm going to let you go, alright? And no screaming! Just nod or shake your head." A nod. "Good, now give me a minute to collect that arm and get out of here, then call the cops. Seem fair, I save your life, you give me a minute's head start?" Another nod. "Good, now we're negotiating. Isn't this nice?" A more frantic nod, coupled by the kid's eyes starting to roll back into his head. The child went limp moments later. "Shit."

Caster placed the child back on the ground, then gently undid his restraints. He left the gag in just in case nothing stuck with the kid. Then he rubbed his palms together, trying to remember old techniques unused for years.

"Hm… oh right." He placed his hands, surrounded in electricity, against the kid's chest. He smirked, "Clear."

The child convulsed, then opened his eyes. He sat up, rubbing his head, and made eye contact with the strange man in his house. The screaming almost started again, but Caster placed a finger against his lips.

"Shh, quiet kid. I need you to focus for a bit." A nod. Good, seemed like the kid remembered the rules of basic communication. Caster sighed. "Look, I don't know how to break this to you more gently, but it might not matter now. Your family is dead."

The child looked up at Caster with only lightly moistened eyes. Apparently his tiny body had already run out of tears.

Caster sighed again. "Promise not to scream if I remove the gag?" Another hesitant nod from the kid. Caster reached down and undid the tie behind the child's head.

The child looked up at Caster with wide eyes and a quivering lip. "Are you… going to eat me?"

Caster snorted "Nah, kid. Today you live." His expression turned more somber. "But seriously, sorry about your family. Do you have… anyone out of town you could stay with? Preferably for at least two weeks?"

The kid frowned and looked down, but then nodded. "My aunt in Hokkaido."

"Okay, good stuff. Got a deal for you, kid. You listening?" Another nod from the trauma victim. "Which room is yours?"

The kid looked confused. "Third room on the right down the hall. Why?"

"Here, I've got all the answers in my hand here." Caster extended his metal hand, palm glowing. He used a far more gentle touch than normal, as it had been years since he used this particular skill.

The child suddenly felt drowsy, and panicked, trying to ask more questions. "But… what about my stuff? My friends? My family's friends! And who are you?"

Caster reached down and picked up the soon-to be snoozing child. "Easy, there hot shot. Can't help you with stuff. Your friends can call you. Don't know about your family's friends. As for my name…" He paused.

"For the love of god, if you're going to call me anything call me Cole. I hated being Kessler."

The child giggled, fighting past his own accent. "Kessurer is a funny name."

Cole MacGrath frowned, a faraway look in his eyes. "Definitely the name of someone who needs mocked more, that's for sure."

* * *

After tucking the child in (reliving some very painful memories in the process) Cole headed back into the living room. "Okay, first order of business. Relive everyone's last moments. Joy." He hated some facets of this power.

The three non-masters in the room revealed less than nothing, apparently having been watching TV late at night when the psychopath just casually waltzed in and murdered them. The master was useless as well.

"Oh lovely, my master was filler for the seventh slot. Didn't even know magic was real. What a waste of air." He gave the corpse a kick for good measure.

He picked up the arm with the command seals and could feel faint magic still radiating from them. Perhaps something could still be done with these…

Cole cauterized the wounded part and stashed the arm in his jacket. Then, he walked over to the phone next to the couch. Careful to touch it with his metal hand, he dialed an emergency number that popped in his head.

"Good evening, you have reached Kotomine Church. Father Rissei Kotomine speaking."

"Caster here. My master is dead. Friggin' psychopath. Know anyone who could use a second servant?"

A sound of spraying liquid, followed by static and a dead line told Cole all he needed to know.

"Let's see… 1990's, church is behind the times, probably uses a rotary phone, Rissei drinks… Earl Grey Tea? Huh. Grail's got a lot of useless info in there. Put it all together, with poor timing and my usual luck (usually enforced by myself), and… yeah. That phone is dead."

He smirked. "Not my problem anymore. He knows what he needs to know. In the meantime…" Cole got up and kicked his former Master's body. "Let's see if anyone like you tastes better."

* * *

 **CASTER: COLE "KESSLER" MACGRATH**

 **Stats:**

 **Strength: C**

 **Agility: C**

 **Endurance: A- (EX)**

 **Mana: A (EX)**

 **Luck: D**

 **Noble Phantasm: D**

 **CLASS SKILLS:**

 **Territory Creation A: Kessler has powers over both ice and electricity, and has done his research in his advanced age. Using both in tandem, he can create a cold, low pressure zone, which when combined with a local water source, causes a thunderstorm that can sit over an area for several days. His magic is incredibly limited, but when combined with draining power from a storm, he has essentially unlimited lightning to throw around.**

 **Item Creation D: Kessler is pretty useless when it comes to creating items, but over the years (and failed ray sphere attempts) he's picked up a thing or two on electrical engineering.**

 **PERSONAL ABILITIES**

 **Galvanomancy A++: The only "magic" available to Kessler, but surprisingly versatile. Lightning can be unleashed via bolts, grenades, rockets, shockwaves, mild magnetic control, direct contact, and apparently can heal collapsed lungs. Go figure. Gains strength when under any sort of lightning effect, double plus comes from tapping into storms.**

 **Cryomancy B: A gift from Lucy Kuo, Kessler can throw out icy versions of most of his lightning attacks. He can also speed-grow an icy pillar to assist vertical mobility.**

 **NOBLE PHANTASMS:**

 **THE AMP (anti-personnel) D: Once upon a time, Cole was a total chump in melee combat. Then his friend wired up a giant tuning fork and his melee problems were no more. Kessler rarely needs to use this anymore, but he keeps it around in his friend's honor.**

 **THE RAY SPHERE PROTOTYPE (anti-army) C: The ray sphere is one of the more insidious items made by modern science. It forcibly absorbs the bioelectrical energy of all living beings within a 1000 foot area and concentrates it into whomever is holding the sphere. Being a prototype, it will not function on anything within its range that has magic circuits, nor will it function on 1/1000 of the population, due to being within a few generations of producing latent Conduits. From the perspective of the Grail System, it grants a permanent + to mana. Only usable once. Unlikely to be used due to moral ramifications.**

 **Notes:**

 **Kessler is Cole MacGrath after his second run through his personal timeline. He failed to stop the Beast, went back in time, managed to prepare his past self, but watched from the Throne in horror as the Beast came early and his younger self was forced to activate the Ray Field Inhibitor in order to save humanity. Having observed these events twice, he has reached the following conclusions: first, the Beast is not the problem. Second, Cole MacGrath cannot solve the problem because his powers are purely based around destruction, and very small life saving abilities. He has no knowledge of the Plague's significance, and no training to deal with it. Therefore, and Third, the torch of "saviour" must be passed to someone else.**

 **WISH: A CURE FOR THE "CONDUIT PLAGUE" TO BE DISCOVERED BY TRISH WITHIN THREE DAYS OF RAY SPHERE ACTIVATION. HOPEFULLY THIS WILL PREVENT THE NECESSARY EXTINCTION OF PART OF HUMANITY, WITHOUT DAMAGING TOO MANY FUTURE EVENTS.**

 **Oh god we have TWO assholes! And this one EATS (bad) PEOPLE. Now how am I going to deal with a servant who can sustain themselves almost indefinitely on the blood of the wicked...**


End file.
